Hello, everyone. I think it’s time to revise our opinions on divorce. I think divorce gets abused in our culture. You know the story: the divorce rate rises, the religious start a movement, the divorcees are emotionally traumatized by guilt—I made a promise to God. Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

This is a gross vilification, pure and simple, and there is another vantage point. Take, for example, me. You should have seen that coming.

At two separate stages of my life, divorce was the best thing that happened to me.

  1. When my parents were finally divorced, my life became calm for the first time ever. I don’t like to think about who I would be, had my parents stayed together; imagining it makes me shudder.
  2. And just as importantly, when my own marriage became toxic for me, the union was easily dissolved, for large fee. But, like the joke says, it’s expensive because it’s worth it.  I further discovered that divorce is even simpler when you are not attached to things. No haggling over possessions.

Take it all. The apartment, the appliances, the money in the bank, I don’t want any of it. I just want my life back. I want my freedom.

I actually did that. I chose to be penniless. I surrendered all my possessions. Can you believe I did that? I still can’t believe it. If not for my mother, I would have lived on the streets. Thanks, mom.

And I was happy. I made a mistake—it happens. I married the wrong woman. I decided to start over. I did. Divorce made it easy, as it should be. Why should anyone ever be made guilty or hassled over such a common sense decision.

When I am really unhappy with the environment I’m in, when it isn’t what I thought it would be, I leave. I only have a limited amount of time left to live. I refuse to spend my remaining years unhappy because of mythological vows or a dysfunctional sense of obligation or duty.

Oh, and I will not be abused. It’s a rule for me. The second I feel abused, I divorce myself from the environment, forever. That’s why I quit so many jobs.